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Stillwater Motor Camp, which has been open for around 70 years, will close permanently next month so that the waterfront site can be developed into housing.
Since being given notice last December, around 30 people – some who have kept sites there for years, and a handful of permanent residents – are packing up their belongings. Caravans that no longer have tow bars, and buses whose wheels have not turned for some time, are being hauled away.
One site has been in the same family for 46 years, with three generations holidaying there.
The 1.59ha campground, at the end of Duck Creek Road, is on a peninsula alongside the Weiti River estuary.
For seven years, it has been owned by Stillwater Holdings, which has five directors all based in the North Shore, Albany or Rodney areas.
Development was always the plan as the campground was purchased with a 19-lot subdivision already consented. Amendments that reduced that number to 16 were consented in 2021, and it is that plan that is being put into action.
Stillwater Holdings director and spokesperson, Peter Dawson, says all five owners will build homes there and a limited number of other sections will be for sale.
The land is zoned Residential – Single House; sites will be sold as bare land and all the houses will be either one or two-storey with design guidelines in place. A boatshed for residents will also be built.
Dawson says one of the first tasks, which is a condition of resource consent, is to reinforce and strengthen the seawall. Also with erosion and coastal inundation in mind, earthworks are needed to raise the land by around one metre.
Pohutukawa and many other large trees will remain. Public access will be provided by way of an esplanade strip around the edge and there is a public reserve at the end of the peninsula.
Access will be via a gate, but Dawson shies away from the term ‘gated community’, saying the gate will likely only be closed at night and the walkway will be accessible to the public during the day.
Kelly Haliburton has lived at the campground for 14 years, initially in a caravan and for the past 11 years in one of the original houses on the site.
The retired oil and gas worker will move back home to Levin. His partner Christine Black died six years ago and Haliburton says she loved the place.
“I sold my boat after she died and now it’s time to move on,” he says.
The news that the campground would be developed was no surprise to him.
“We were first told to get out in 2008 when developer Evan Williams owned it, but his plans didn’t happen. It was no surprise to hear the news from the current owners, and is actually a blessing in disguise. I am here by myself and it’s time to go.”
That said, he says it’s a shame to see this happening all over the country, as people who are long-time residents of campgrounds are generally in the lower socio-economic group and it also reduces affordable holiday options.
“It’s been a lifestyle – it’s quiet and peaceful here and, of course, ideal for anyone with a boat. So I guess development was inevitable.”
Backstory, August 11, 2022
